One way to gauge the skill and accuracy of a finance team is by tracking improvements on how fast they can complete the business’ month-end close.
However, despite hefty automation efforts, most finance teams are still struggling to close the books efficiently. New data shows the “three-day close” remains more buzzword than benchmark, with inefficiencies around reconciliation, Excel use and data quality slowing the process down.
Ledge’s month-end close benchmarks for 2025 has found that many finance leaders are still trying to overcome the two challenges of technology implementation and data quality simultaneously, and it’s dragging down their team’s closing efficiency as a result. Researchers found half (50%) of finance teams take 6+ business days to close.
What’s taking so long?
Surveyors referred to the three-day close as an “industry buzz” around corporate finance, and their data shows few have been able to accomplish that feat. Less than a fifth (18%) said that their close time is between 1-3 business days. Nearly a third (32%) said 4-5 business days, nearly a quarter (23%) said 6-7 business days and over a quarter (27%) said their close takes more than 7 business days on a regular basis.
Findings suggest it’s not the reporting process that inhibits finance teams during the close process, but everything else. Surveyors note reconciling fragmented data, aligning upstream systems and correcting manual errors as phenomena that are consuming time during the process.
Accounts reconciliation, particularly cash reconciliation, is taking up the most time in the process. The average time spent on this process is between 20-50 hours per month, and most teams are using 3-5 different systems to complete the process, surveyors found. Individual perspectives from those surveyed noted that some finance teams “spend more time trying to explain the mismatches than actually fixing them.”
When asked broadly about what’s preventing faster month-end closes, answers varied, but identified operational problems with roots in people and technology. More than half (56%) said cross-team dependencies, half (50%) said Excel-driven processes, 40% said legacy systems and over a third (37%) said staff and capacity gaps.
Fixing the problem
Among the suggestions that researchers say can help remedy a sluggish month-end close process are some of the most challenging things a CFO and a finance team can undergo.
They suggest reducing dependence on Excel, which most finance teams still favor using (94% of respondents in Ledge’s report said this), strengthening ERP systems — which is one of the most cumbersome and data-critical technology implementations a finance team can make — and investing in upskilling, which many companies have done with mixed results.
CFOs who wish to speed up their team’s closing process will likely make tweaks, not upending changes to the finance function, in order to make gradual improvements over time. Within this approach, CFOs can improve their teams’ efficiency, evaluate the outcome of process changes over time and help alleviate recurring stress from their finance teams.
While finance leaders have advised this is why psychological safety is important when implementing new tools, it’s important for finance teams to remember the importance of data preparation being just as pivotal to maintaining an efficient close process.
Respondents to Ledge’s report included 100 finance professionals working at companies with 51-200 to over 10,000 employees, representing high-transaction industries including SaaS/technology, healthcare and manufacturing.
